1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receptacle connector, and particularly to a receptacle connector which has an anti-mismating means for preventing incorrect insertion of a non-complementary plug connector
2. Description of the Related Art
Both RJ-45 connector assemblies and RJ-11 connector assemblies are generally used in signal transmission networks. Each RJ-45 connector assembly and each RJ-11 connector assembly includes a plug connector and a corresponding receptacle connector. When mating, the plug connector is inserted into the corresponding receptacle connector. However, the main difference between an RJ-45 plug connector and an RJ-11 plug connector, or an RJ-45 receptacle connector and an RJ-11 receptacle connector, is that the dimensions of the RJ-45 plug connector and RJ-45 receptacle connector are larger than those of the respective RJ-11 plug connector and RJ-11 receptacle connector. Thus, an RJ-11 plug connector may be mistakenly inserted into an RJ-45 receptacle connector, which may result in damage to the RJ-45 receptacle connector.
In order to prevent mismating, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/536,165, which is assigned to the same assignee of the present application, discloses an RJ-45 receptacle connector (see FIG. 8). The RJ-45 receptacle connector 51 comprises an insulative housing 53 and an anti-mismating device 55. The insulative housing 53 has a mating face 57 and a receiving space 59. The device 55 includes a base portion 61, two resilient hinges 63 extending rearwardly from the base portion 61, and a baffle 65 connecting the two resilient hinges 63. The two hinges 63 are spaced a distance D from each other which is larger than the width of an RJ-11 plug connector. The baffle 65 will prevent an RJ-11 plug connector from being inserted into the RJ-45 receptacle connector 51, thereby preventing a mismating of an RJ-11 plug connector with the receptacle connector. Only a complementary RJ-45 plug connector (not shown) can simultaneously press the two resilient hinges 63, and further push the baffle 65 down allowing insertion into the RJ-45 receptacle connector 51. However, this design of the RJ-45 receptacle connector require a larger receiving space to accommodate the device 55, which does not comply with the current miniaturization trend in the connector field. Another copending application Ser. No. 09/698,699 filed Oct. 27, 2000 with the same assignee also discloses the similar product with relatively large dimensions, similarly requiring further maniaturization/simplicity improvement.
Hence, an improved receptacle connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.